Phantom Data Usage? Riddle me this, AT&T....

[bosrc]

I am a new AT&T customer, formerly with T-mobile.

I was using an iphone on T-Mobile, but the iPhone 4 pulled me away, that and the cost of ATT's plan went down so it basically matched what I was paying with Tmobile.

ANYWAY... when at the Apple store, we looked at my TMO bill to see what my usage was over the past year I was using the iPhone 3G. Since I mostly used my phone with wifi, my cellular data usage was between 10-20MB per month, so I signed up for the 200MB data plan.

It has been 4 days since I switched to ATT and I just checked my data usage on the website and was blown away... 55 MBs in four days?!?!! I am an adult user, all push notifications are off (including apps), I do not tweet, do not stream youtube or music, don't download songs from iTunes, send maybe 3 picture messages a month, don't use my iPhone 9-5 M-F while at work, and mostly use the apps while at home connected to wifi, but I used 4X the data in 4 days than I used entire months previously?

I called ATT, and the customer service rep was just as confused as I am. I walked through this at the Apple store with my rep, she saw my data usage numbers from Tmobile, so this is a shock.The phone rep asked me to use the "data calculator" tool to see how much data it thinks I should be using. I overestimated everything - 100 emails with attachments a month (I send may 3-5), 500 web pages a month (i browse maybe 50 when not on wifi), use 200 social media posts a month (i dont even think i do this at all), etc. The estimate = 26 MB/month. On the high side of what I saw with TMobile. So, how do I use DOUBLE that in 4 days while being on wifi 90% of the time????

Needless to say, being 1/4 the way through the my data plan with 26 days left in my billing cycle was not going to cut it, so I was upsold and am paying more money. Now, my plan is MORE than what I was paying on TMO and am considering switching back and paying the termination fee. I don't even get ATT service in my home and drop calls like its no one's business.

I don't get it. Depsite being on a different carrier, the phone is the same, the apps are the same, my usage habits are the same, so what gives?

Thanks for any help or insights you can provide...

[dwill05]

Monitor the data usage on the phone in the Settings screen. Reset it and check periodically to see when it's using data.

[bosrc]

Good idea.. I just reset my usage stats.

I assume this statistic doesn't include WIFI data, correct?

[bosrc]

HA! ok - i get NO cell service in my office. I reset my stats, checked it 5 minutes later. Apparently, I sent 5KB and received 10KB while my phone was in standby, connected to WIFI, and is using NO PUSH.

?????

[ggrooms58]

Hi, Interesting questions here! I just picked up my phone yesterday at 2 pm. I didn't check this then but reading this made me look. It shows sent 137mb and received 1.6 gb. HUH, Yes I played with it a bunch but I was at home most of the time with wifi activated. I am not panicked because I still have the grandfathered unlimited package, however my old 3g phone goes to my wife who is going to att&t this afternoon. We talked about it last night and decided (well I did) that she could get by with the 200mb plan easily, since most things she does is at home with the wifi. What would my bill cost if I didn't have the unlimited? geez I could be on the news.

[bosrc]

I am literally watching my data usage tick up while connected to wifi... just made an appointment with the Genius Bar

[nbaylinson]

---

bosrc wrote:

HA! ok - i get NO cell service in my office. I reset my stats, checked it 5 minutes later. Apparently, I sent 5KB and received 10KB while my phone was in standby, connected to WIFI, and is using NO PUSH.

?????

---

  if your phone was in standby, wifi is off.

[smooth4lyfe]

---

nbaylinson wrote:

---

bosrc wrote:

HA! ok - i get NO cell service in my office. I reset my stats, checked it 5 minutes later. Apparently, I sent 5KB and received 10KB while my phone was in standby, connected to WIFI, and is using NO PUSH.

?????

---

  if your phone was in standby, wifi is off.

---

Not necessarily...you can still be connected to wifi when the phone is in standby

[bosrc]

And even if that is true, i have VERY spotty cell service in my office and nothing is set to push. So, where is this usage coming from??

My phone sent and recieved 60KBs of data in 10 minutes of me not using it, connected to wifi. That is 8.4MBs a day and 235MBs a month.

[davidusr]

Try turning data off and see if it changes. Obviously it shouldn't, but you never know. Also, with data off, the program using the data might popup with a "no data connection". Then you have the culprit.

[bosrc]

I tried that. No app to say "no data connection" via popup and my data usage did NOT increase... hmm. Off to the Genius Bar to see if they can help with my phantom data drain. I will report back here.

[lavitztyr]

Are you making sure all your programs are closed? with the multi tasking on the iphone, it seems easy to have pretty much everything running at the same time and not know it.

[bosrc]

Not sure how I know something is closed... but, either way, I was on wifi the whole time.

Just got back from the Apple store and I was told he would guess the numbers I am seeing (about 8MB a day) in "overhead" because the phone is pinging towers and gps, etc.If that is the case, and I am paying $15 a month for my 200MB so my phone can ping towers, then bye bye AT&T.

I am *THIS* close to cancelling my account. I just learned that I won't even get hit with an ET fee because I am within the 30 days!

I am hoping this is a phone issue. The guys at the apple store told me no, it wasnt. I called ATT back, the woman had no clue what I was even talking about and told me to go back to Apple. Sigh......

[josephz2va]

You can close any active programs that have background API, file transfer completion and fast app switching ping by double tapping the home key, then hold an application until it wiggles, then press the stop button on each one you don't want on.

AT&T does perform a receive and send on voicemail and several key features like SMS/MMS on a time after time basis. Features that run in the background are:

• MS Exchange (mail, calendar, notes, contacts, bookmarks)
• Voicemail
• SMS / MMS
• Multitasking (background apps, fast app switching, task completion of file transfer, file sync to OTA)
• Push Notifications
• Location Services
• WiFi/3G Ping
• App Store ping for updated applications (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work)
• Cellular services in linked features like FaceTime ping
• Searching ...
• No Service

[davidusr]

I agree...not fair for your 200MB package to be eaten up by "pings". I know it's a hassle, but I would try AT&T again. It's hit and miss with the reps. Some know their stuff, some don't.

[bosrc]

I suppose I just want to know what is considered "typical standby overhead cellular data usage".

My phone seems to be eating 8mb a day sitting idle while connected to wifi. AT&T reps/Apple Genius man, is this normal? Yes? No? Hello? Bueller..?

Guess I will try ATT again when I get home. If I can't get a straight answer from anyone I am sadly going to dump AT&T and the new fancy iPhone. I hear the HTC Incredible on Verizon is pretty nice

[xxxsteveoxxx]

if its an Iphone 4 just go into your settings and turn off 3g data. problem solved. sucks but its 2010, there gotta be wifi close by

[dwill05]

If 3G is turned off, I think it will still try to use EDGE to transfer the data.

[Planet-Ed ACE - Geek]

---

dwill05 wrote:
If 3G is turned off, I think it will still try to use EDGE to transfer the data.

---

Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data : OFF

That should prevent the phone from using cellular data.

[morph2-7]

So data plan is mandatory but we can't really use it. Sweet.

[Docs44]

I've noticed that when my phone is in standby and I unlock it, then it is on the 3G network before connecting again to the wi-fi.  I wonder if you have open apps that it's not using 3G data instead of wifi when it's locked. 

[johnreinhold]

I have a similar situation. In three years with an iPhone on TMobile I had data usage of around 60MB a month with 100MB on the high side.

After 5 days on AT&T I am over 70MB. My wife has already doubled her monthly usage...

What is this iPhone doing with AT&T that wasn't happening on TMobile?

I mostly use Google mobilized sites which are made light bandwidth for mobile devices, GMail web app, and Google reader.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

---

bosrc wrote:

I suppose I just want to know what is considered "typical standby overhead cellular data usage".

My phone seems to be eating 8mb a day sitting idle while connected to wifi. AT&T reps/Apple Genius man, is this normal? Yes? No? Hello? Bueller..?

Guess I will try ATT again when I get home. If I can't get a straight answer from anyone I am sadly going to dump AT&T and the new fancy iPhone. I hear the HTC Incredible on Verizon is pretty nice

---

8mb a day - check your apps, reset a spare 32gb 3GS to factory fresh, made sure data usage tracking was reset to 0. Set phone on cradle, let it sit overnight with nothing else being done. Total of data at 5:15 AM cdt

Sent - 3.0 KB

Recieved - 33.6 KB

This was with factory shipped apps only and the phone on a fresh reset. Going to let the phpne sit in te cradle for a few days without using or touching to see what a couple of days show in usage

[bosrc]

I got a reply from Apple...

Apparently, there is some sort of bug in iOS 4 which is draining data excessively on exchange accounts. I have an exchange account set up, so I guess that makes sense. Apparently, it is a known issue and there will be a fix for it in the next firmware release.

I was also told that "3G uses more data than 2G" so that is why I saw such a jump from Tmobile. I am not sure I buy that answer, though... it only takes any given app XXXkb of data to update/locate/etc, no matter if is on 2G or 3G. It is not like my mailbox uses more data when it fetches mail every 30 minutes because it is on 3G... but, I guess thats why I am not an Apple Genius..

[dwill05]

Reset the statistics on the phone last night before going to bed.  After getting up, I had 6KB sent and 7KB received.  I had WiFi on, connected to my home network, all apps closed through the multitasking bar, don't have exchange, no push or fetch, so this is data use with the phone just sitting there overnight and everything that I can control turned off (except for the cellular data).

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

---

wingrider01 wrote:

---

bosrc wrote:

I suppose I just want to know what is considered "typical standby overhead cellular data usage".

My phone seems to be eating 8mb a day sitting idle while connected to wifi. AT&T reps/Apple Genius man, is this normal? Yes? No? Hello? Bueller..?

Guess I will try ATT again when I get home. If I can't get a straight answer from anyone I am sadly going to dump AT&T and the new fancy iPhone. I hear the HTC Incredible on Verizon is pretty nice

---

8mb a day - check your apps, reset a spare 32gb 3GS to factory fresh, made sure data usage tracking was reset to 0. Set phone on cradle, let it sit overnight with nothing else being done. Total of data at 5:15 AM cdt

Sent - 3.0 KB

Recieved - 33.6 KB

This was with factory shipped apps only and the phone on a fresh reset. Going to let the phpne sit in te cradle for a few days without using or touching to see what a couple of days show in usage

---

Second day reading

Sent - 5.7KB so approx 2.7KB overnight

Recieved - 39.2 KB little under 6KB used overnight

Phone sitting in cradle, untouched, nothing installed, nothing configured, cell number forwarded to a different phone

Pardon me, one thing I forgot to mention - phone is running OS4

[xTyrannyx]

I was just looking at my iPhone 4 and noticed I have sent 99.8mb/recieved 627mb which is a little high for the 4 days ive had it so I logged into my account and compared the numbers to my data used on my ATT account and they are completely different. My account on ATT says ive only used 68mb 8 days into my billing cycle, which is a 30% difference, so the iPhone must wrong. Maybe try taking a look at your account and see what that says as far as your data usage since thats what they are going to bill you by?

and fyi there is a ATT myWireless app you can download so you can maybe monitor your data through there

[DetTigers]

This makes sense because according to At&t I've used 300MB of data in 3 days which is IMPOSSIBLE for what I've been doing on my iPhone 4.  I called their customer service and asked to speak to someone in tech support but they would not transfer me, instead telling me they couldn't do anything "until I got my bill".  I've had smartphones for a long time and the most I've EVER used was just over 700MB in a month.  

I never dreamed I would ever come close to 2GB but at this rate I will be way over. If they don't get this fixed I may have to bail on At&t before my 30 days are up.

[tinagallo379]

My husband has an iphone 3G but not with 4.0 installed  and he uses 2000-5000kb every night at 2am when no one is using the phone. AT&T says its push from email but thats shut off. 

[jeepgirl93]

i looked at my usage on the phone which was some ridiculus high number,250mb, then checked *data#, and it was much less, 65mb.